Google hangouts is a communication platform where people to meet and share ideas. It was created by Google which includes instant messaging, SMS, video chat and VOIP features. It presents three messaging products, that Google had applied concurrently within it services, including Google Talk, Google+ messenger (formerly: Huddle) and hangouts.

There is a video chat system present within Google+. Google has also identified that Hangouts is designed to be “the future” of its telephony products (Google Voice) and put some of the capabilities of Google Voice into Hangouts chat. Users can send messages through their Google+ accounts.

Features of Google Hangouts

Hangouts support conversations between two or more users. Users can access the service online via the Gmail or Google+ website. It can also be through the mobile apps available for Android devices and iOS. Therefore it makes use of a proprietary protocol service. Instead of XMPP open standard protocol which Google Talk use sometimes are, most third-party applications. Which has access to Google Talk do not have access to Google+ Hangouts.

The user chat history keeps storing online, this allows syncing them between two devices.

A “watermark” of a user’s avatar is used as a marker to specify how far they have read into the conversation.

Users can share photos when a conservation is going on, and uploads of photos are into a private Google+ album.

Users can also now use color emoji symbols in their messages.

Creating a Google hangouts account

For a user to create a hangout account they have to follow some very few steps in achieving this process. All they need to do is to have a smartphone device and a Google account. Through that, the user can set up their account.

The user needs to have a working internet connection on their device.

Type in on Google search and type on the search bar Google Hangouts.

The homepage pops up where the user can input his or her Gmail account details.

Then after the user clicks on next the hangout platform opens.

After completing this process the user can now enjoy all the benefit of the platform. Like chatting, creating and joining groups, joining a community and so on.

Google Hangouts Performance – Google Play store

The previous Google+ Hangouts users can also perform a group video chat with up to 10 users at a time. In 2016 Google upgraded the Hangouts to 25 concurrent users in HD video for Work and Education.

The latest Google Hangouts app on iOS devices integrates Google Voice number to some extent. But on Android devices, the SMS support in Hangouts doesn’t fully integrate with Google Voice for calls or texts. on the year 2004, most users were expecting the integration, but it was not on until in January 2016 it finally came.

For the Google Chrome, users do not need to install a plugin. However, for Internet Explorer 11, the user must install the “Google Talk Plugin” to be able to use the video features. In Android 4.4, Hangouts integrates text with messages sending and receiving functions. This is the default SMS app on the Nexus 5.

For other Android phones, users can choose to open the SMS function when they download the new version of Hangouts via Google Play store. SMS conversations are shown in a drawer on the left side. The update also adds GIF support and a new location-sharing button. This allows the users to send their GPS location to their contacts.